Making Your Mind Your Best Friend

The Path of Meditation is to search and seek for that which we have never lost. The world has to realize that lost happiness and peace are not outside of us; we cannot find lost happiness and peace so long as we focus our search outside. We lost it inside of us, and can only find it inside of us. That is the path of meditation, to search and seek for that which we have never lost.

As we perceive the world through our senses - seeing, listening, hearing, being open to the outside world - we get used to the world of the periphery, forgetting the Center. We become attracted to externals and our senses pull us out all the time. We forget that there is an internal life too. Internal life is not objective but more clearly subjective. The practice of meditation is grounded in this subjective principle of life.

We can use an analogy to understand. If I have left my car key in my bedroom, and then forget where I left it, I may search all around the world; I may spend days and nights searching for the key out on the pavement, in the garage or all over the city. But I will never find it outside. For I have never lost it outside. I forgot that I left it in my bedroom, in my home. Till I come to my home and search in my bedroom I will not find it. When I find it in my bed room, I may think, how foolish of me to go around searching and seeking outside when it was just in my home!

So it is with the truth of our life. We never lost our peace and calm outside of us. But we think so. This illusion drives us to search in the objective world for that which we have in the home of our subjective Self. We have all the Peace and Happiness we are looking for inside our Self, if we only look there to find it!

Meditation is not a technique. It is your realization that you have not lost your happiness outside of you. No amount of searching in money, beauty, name and fame will help you be at peace. Just retreat back into the shrine of your Home. Peace is within you. It is in the silence of your restless mind. It is in the humility of your humbled emotion acknowledging the supremacy of Divine Wisdom. It is your connection of Body Mind with your Spirit within. It is your connection of individual self with the Cosmic Self. It is the journey of an individual to find the Universal. It is a simple art of opening your heart and mind to the Higher Light that guides the destiny of trillions of galaxies and Milky Ways. It is how you rejoice within you like a child in the lap of the mother.

Meditation helps you to find that natural self within you. It helps you to get to that inner rhythm which is inseparable from the Universal Rhythm. It helps you to feel you are ever interconnected, interrelated interdependent, to the rest of Cosmos. Once your sense of assumed separation melts in the light of awareness that is created in Meditation, you feel the expansion; you feel the essence of life as expansion enveloping everything as the manifestation of the Self within. That is a beautiful state of harmony and peace. It is so natural and effortlessly spontaneous. This state is the deepest state of Meditation called Samadhi, which is dissolution of the dualism and merging into the Unified Field of Consciousness.

Meditation is The Inner Journey to the Self Within

As I have said meditation as a practice is an effort to stop the mind from its natural tendency to weave thoughts. In the practice of meditation you try to relax yourself. You begin to focus your mind. You can focus on your Chosen Ideal, a Sacred Sound or chant, or on your own physical body, your own breath or your own thoughts. The effort in meditation is always to be effortless. Here, you are working to expand your subtle awareness, so you can feel the non-physical dimensions of your physical self and of this physical world. You begin to experience the stillness of your mind, the lightness of your body, and illumination of your intellect. You are flooded with Cosmic Energy in the process. As you persevere through the initial obstacles in meditation, you experience your natural connection to the universal field of energy. You feel the calm state of your mind. Mundane emotions transmute into joyful experiences of giving and forgiving. You feel your body and mind in rhythm with the universal rhythm. You are not struggling to be happy any more.

Meditation is an inner journey toward the Self. It is a journey to discover the real "I", the eternal transcendent “I”. The smaller "I" with whom you identify in your everyday consciousness is affected by all the ups and downs of the relative world. When meditation deepens, your eye of wisdom opens. All ignorance, ego, attachments, all aversions, all fear of death, gradually leave you. You become the conqueror of death and of limitation. That is what Meditation gives us. It opens the window to our Inner Self. It brings us closer to who we are. Meditation is to move from matter to energy, the Divine Energy.

The Not so Subtle Difference between Prayer and Meditation

In conclusion, when one prays, one is essentially thinking or doing a task, for one is either asking for something or being grateful for a prayer answered. And this state is usually manifested in words, or thoughts. Prayer implies a doer and a Receiver, Meditation implies that the DOER and RECEIVER are One in the Same! The difference between prayer and meditation is really not so subtle. It is the difference between mind and No-Mind, where the mind of the individual ceases and the Communion happens with the Universal Mind.

See Baba's website at www.feelinghearts.org

What is the difference between praying and meditating?

Prayer is basically thoughts. Meditation is the Gap between the Thoughts.

All thoughts cease when one is truly in Meditation. One has come to the point where the Gap between the thoughts is recognized. When you don’t condemn, criticize, or judge your thoughts, when you become more aware of your thoughts, you can carefully and intently watch your inner world of thinking. You will find that thoughts gradually lose their randomness. You will be able to see your thoughts appearing separately on your mental screen. You will be able to locate the gap between two thoughts. The gap between two thoughts is Silence; and, that Silence is the deepest Silence of the entire Universe.

All spiritual practices, all Meditations are done initially to identify the gap that exists between two thoughts. As you do the practice you will be able to extend the gap. At the beginning, meditation will be one overlapping thought after another. But as you observe your thoughts, deeper and deeper, watching with more and more intense awareness of your emotion, as you open your heart and your whole being, you will find your thoughts will gradually come to make friendship with you.

Meditation will no longer be stressful for you. It will no longer be painful for you because you will realize, for the first time, that you are separate from your thoughts. This is an intense experience in human existence - to know that you are separate from your thoughts.

Truly understanding the purpose of Meditation

Meditation is very important. Once you come to understand what meditation truly is, your resistance to meditating will melt away. When you have run out of energy as the demands on you keep mounting; when you cannot cope with the increasing demands and complexities of today’s world with your shallow supply of energy, you need to decompress and unwind. Meditation is much more renewing, a much more powerful tool for reducing stress, than TV or other things you do to “get away from it all.” The purpose of meditation is not to achieve or attain anything. It is to reach a state of letting go, a deep ease, a profound state of relaxation. Meditation is your willingness to do nothing. You are obsessed with doing too many things. As if that were not enough, you are obsessed with doing them all perfectly! That leads to untold stress.

The Task of Prayer becomes the Art of Meditation

In meditation, your goal is to experience NON-DOING. You do not reach a state of non-doing through effort, the way your ego is accustomed to working. Instead, you set aside the time and space for meditation and open your mind to let non-doing happen. Meditation is first of all your willingness to do nothing. If you take meditation as a break, as the most enjoyable vacation possible from pressure, as a retreat into your own inner world of peace and happiness, it cannot become an additional stress. You will not expect anything out of it. That is its purpose. When you surrender to doing nothing, to not-doing, your mind cannot whirl anymore. It cannot calculate any more. It cannot add to your stress. You allow the stress to melt away. You let your mind fill-up with peace. Your mind and your stress melt into the flow of the universal rhythm of joy. Meditation also empowers your mind to be more disciplined, more focused, more energized, more integrated, more content. True happiness in life flows more spontaneously. Meditation connects you to that spontaneous inner source where the universal dwells.

Please do not make stretching or meditation one more stressful thing of your life. Do these practices as conscious acts of love for yourself. Once you realize the need to connect to your deepest source within, you will come to know what you have been missing throughout your life. Then your practice cannot cause you stress. It becomes your love affair with yourself.

See Baba's website at www.feelinghearts.org

The Task of Prayer, the Art of Meditation (Part 1)

If someone were to ask me, “Why should I bother praying when it seems that my prayers are hardly ever answered?”, I would gently, but firmly, give this answer:

Do you think God is bothered if you are not praying? Do you think the Sun will not rise, the wind will stop blowing, or the creeks will stop running? I suspect there are times you might believe the earth is going to stop spinning and hurling through space if you don’t pray!

Prayer becomes a reflection of confusion, conflict, and chaos in the jungle state of your mind, in the chattering state of your mind. Real prayer involves a calm mind. The calmness of the mind is the ground where you can place the seeds of your gratitude and love. Within calm ground, the seeds will flower into devotion and surrender, prayer and meditation.

But, prayer without a calm mind involves the acceptance of dualism: a separation between the one who is praying, and the other, to whom the prayer is directed. When one's prayer deepens to complete absorption, the mind stops and words are silenced. Then prayer flows into meditation, where all dualism melts into unity consciousness.

Don’t bother about praying. First, practice physical stretching, yoga exercises, breathing with awareness, and clearing your mind of its clutter. Each and every sincere effort to lift your life is a form of prayer. You will find space for prayer as you continue these practices. True prayer is spontaneous. It is not something “to do”, or to feel obligated to perform. True prayer is a way of keeping time with the flow of Universal rhythm.

It is simple to understand. When your prayer deepens, your act of offering yourself to the Divine intensifies, and then your ego melts. Your individuality melts into Universal existence. At that stage, meditation happens. You can pray intentionally, but Meditation has to happen naturally. It has to happen in the same way that sleep has to happen. Have you ever consciously tried to fall asleep at night, and been left awake all night? Sleep can only happen; you cannot make it happen. It is the same with meditation. You must meditate till Meditation happens as when buds open into fragrant flowers.

See Baba's website at www.feelinghearts.org

My thoughts and prayers are with everyone who is suffering from financial insecurity these days. Fear can be unnerving. Concerns about job loss, home foreclosure, retirement shortfall, or burgeoning debt in a worsening economy can be raw and painful. But this crisis can also offer immense potential for spiritual growth. To access this potential, I recommend that we take a deeper look at ourselves and our priorities. Anchor yourself more firmly than ever in the resources of your Spirit which enhance your ability to face all of life with confidence, and to serve others.

We can either resist difficult situations; or, we can respond to a crisis effectively. However intense circumstances may become, immersing ourselves in the deeper truths, attitudes, and conduct of the Spirit is the only, and ultimate, security.

Today, we are experiencing the effects of unbridled greed throughout the entire world. Humanity needs to reflect on how we have allowed love of money to displace our higher values and priorities. We have enshrined money and worship it as our god. To be fully human we must rediscover the true God Who resides in our hearts.

If you are seriously disturbed by economic conditions or other kinds of turmoil, remember that nothing is permanent: This too shall pass! The Infinite Power of the Universe is working out a grand design. The Infinite Power of the Universe is working to harmonize and to lift humanity from its present state. But, human society will not progress by blindly worshipping money. Human society can only evolve by embracing Light, Love and Compassion.

Please visit my website, www.feelinghearts.org.

Meditation as a practice is an effort to stop the mind from its natural tendency to weave thoughts. In meditation, you need to relax yourself and then focus your mind on a divine form, a sacred sound, a word or phrase as a mantra; or to focus on your own physical body, your own breath or your own thoughts. It is, in fact, sitting with your own mind for a while.

You watch the drifting thoughts in the space of your mind. As you keep watching, the mind wanders away; you bring it back to the watchful, playful, mindful, act of being in the mind, for the mind, with the mind. Then you are in the grand world of your Inner Being. This is meditation.

It is not just a forced technique to practice. It is the playfulness of your spirit. Remember - the purpose of meditation is not to achieve anything. It is to reach a state of letting go, a profound state of relaxation. Meditation is your willingness to do nothing. You are obsessed with doing too many things. As if that is not enough, you are obsessed with doing them perfectly! That leads to untold stress. In meditation your effort is to attain to Non-Doing.

To do something without any expectation, then the mind cannot calculate any more. It has to melt. It melts into the flow of the Universal rhythm of joy. Meditation empowers your mind to be more disciplined, more focused, more refined, more content. True happiness in life, flows out of it spontaneously. Meditation connects you to that spontaneous inner source.

One of the best ways to enter Meditation is to watch one’s breath. As your mind comes close to the rim of your nostrils, you witness the warm air moving in and out. Count to ten while breathing (one cycle of inhale and exhale would be 1), then again start from 1 to 10, you will see that your mind is calming down and with that, your body and mind are vibrating in a higher frequency. This vibration invites lightness and luminosity, health and harmony into your life.

Meditation need not always be simply sitting quietly, absorbed in Oneness. One can be in a beautiful state of meditation, even in the process of doing. You need to be awake to your inner reality - to your spirit! You can do the same things mindfully, consciously. For example if you are doing the dishes, recognize that you are not doing them alone. The water is also washing them. The detergent, the sink, the trees that provide you oxygen are also washing. The clouds in the sky provide the water. The air helps you to breathe. Mother Earth, the air, the sun, all have joined with you, in celebration. You feel washing dishes is a chore only when you cannot consciously connect to the Cosmic process involved in your work.

When you feel a part of the whole, everything becomes sacred. You don’t work; you are not doing. Work happens through you, it flows through you. You are no longer an obstruction. When you are not mindful, it is your ego, thinking in isolation, which feels alone. With mindfulness, your consciousness expands. You access the Whole.

A true yogi is one who does not give up action, but who makes action divine by turning it into worship and meditation.

The effort in meditation is always to be effortless. In meditation, as you persevere through the initial obstacles, you begin to feel your natural connection to the universal field of energy and vibrations. You feel the calm state of your mind. Mundane emotions are transmuted into a joyful experience of giving and forgiving. You feel your body and mind are in rhythm with the universal rhythm, and you are not struggling to be happy any more. Meditation thus is more an inner journey toward the Self within, a journey for discovering the real 'I" as contrasted with the “I” that goes through all the ups and downs of the outer world.

As you bathe in that Cosmic Energy, bask in it, dance in it, you are in the utter ecstasy of divine bliss. Once you realize the need to connect to your deepest Source within, you will come to know what you have been missing all through your life. It is your love affair with your Self!